April 10, 2009
Contented House Guest
I’ll admit it. There’s nothing as cute as a puppy sleeping. I know I was cute years ago when I curled up in my favorite bed and slept the afternoon away. So it shouldn’t surprise me that, while I’m at the groomer, our house guest, Gemma, made herself at home in my bed and in my dog house.
Gretchen was a little worried that while Monty and I were at the “spa” (her word for it, NOT mine), Gemma wouldn’t know what to do with herself. That she would, in fact, have the puppy crazies like she did last night traipsing around the house on an uncontrolled binge of frolic and silliness.
But no…once Monty and I were out of the house, Gemma settled right in and found the most comfortable place in the house — my donut bed. Gretchen planned on taking Gemma with her when she walked Oshi and Perrito today, but when she got ready to go, Gemma gave her a sleepy look from the bed and Gretchen knew Gemma would be staying behind.
The only problem? Gemma has never stayed alone in our house on her own so Gretchen solved the problem by scooping up the bed (with Gemma in it) and tucking it into my collapsible dog house, the one I use at the agility ring.
Before zipping Gemma in for an afternoon nap, Gretchen snapped this photo.
That was almost 3 hours ago and little Ms. Gemma is still fast asleep only now with the door unzipped.
Meanwhile, Monty and I are still at the “spa” (I’m using my doggy iPhone to text in this blog!).
The day started, though, with a romp in the rain. Since we were going to the groomer’s anyway, Gretchen thought she’d let us get as messy as we could with a few games at the tennis courts.
And man, did we play hard!
The moment Gretchen let us off the leashes, Monty and I started wrestling. Within seconds, we were racing around the courts with wild abandon.
In this photo we’re chasing Monty, but it’s rare to see Monty in the lead. Generally, Monty does the chasing. He likes to bark at me and run full out trying to catch me, but I’m a fast little bugger and I’m able to cut the corners a lot faster than Monty. That Gretchen captured Monty in the lead lets you know how wild he’d become. He raced like crazy with Gemma and me in HOT pursuit.
Monty’s a sly one, though. When he gets tired, he stops and tries to cut me off so we can wrestle! I just bark at him to try and get him running again…he barks back!
When we’ve had enough, Gretchen pulls out the balls and starts throwing them across the courts. We fetch them, bring them back, and then Monty, who has recently decided this particular position is the best, perches onto the small bench on the side of the court.
Monty is kind of silly and as you can tell by the photo, he needs a haircut…so do I!
So off we went to the “spa” and Gemma went home with Gretchen who tucked her in for a long sleep (she’s still sleeping, in fact) while Gretchen took the boys next door to the park.
Oshi, as you may recall, thinks he’s a cat and often, when Gretchen opens their front door, Orondo (the other neighbor’s cat) will come running out with the dogs. So it was today and when Gretchen, Perrito, and Oshi heard another cat meowing on their walk, Oshi refused to move forward think it was still Orondo, but it was just another cat meowing to get into his own house.
The only thing that got Oshi to move was visitors — a mom and her young son, Eli.
Perrito is much more of a greeter than Oshi, though, and he spent most of his time getting love from the visitors.
But then it was time to go and Oshi decided to say goodbye along with Perrito.
Jasper was next on the agenda, though Gretchen had to pick us up from the spa first and then Gemma went home to her dads and well, it’s been a very long day.
Jasper was excited to see Gretchen though he did his usual bark and growl as a warning that a fierce dog lived in the house. Gretchen wasn’t buying it and so, Jasper gave up and wagged his tail and did his happy dance. And off they went around the neighborhood and down by the lake meeting friends along the way.
Gretchen wasn’t certain how Jasper would do meeting other dogs, but apparently he was quite a gentleman and wagged his tail in glee at the meeting.
They met other dogs along the way, but none of them were are willing to greet as this little guy.
Gretchen tried to take a picture of Jasper’s tail with the white spot at the end (her favorite part of Jasper), but the photos didn’t turn out. Then she tried to take a photo of Jasper smiling, but he’s a rather serious boy and when on a walk, he’s all about THE WALK — not much room for smiling.
On their walk, there were beautiful flowers — cherry trees in bloom, daffodils pushing through the soil, and euphorbia chartreuse and Dr. Seuss-like!
When Jasper got back home, he threw himself on the ground and tried to rub off his collar. At this point Gretchen noticed, while she was mixing his dinner, that he’d torn up one of his toys. The lighting wasn’t great, but she snapped this (guilty) photo anyway!
Next week I get to meet Jasper and from what I can tell, he seems like a nice enough fellow. I, too, like to rip up my toys and look annoyed when Gretchen poses me in front of flowers!
Have a great weekend,
Rubin
